Chocolate faces and lemonade laughter
by Sparkly Faerie
Summary: Patches of flour covered the counter when Sora walked in; he cast his eye around the kitchen, noting the chaos that Kairi had left in her wake. He wondered if her parents knew the state it was in.


**Yet another prompt from Brooke.**

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**Disclaimer:**I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything associated with it. All rights to Kingdom Hearts and affiliated characters belong to Disney and Square Enix.

**Summary:** Patches of flour covered the counter when Sora walked in; he cast his eye around the kitchen, noting the chaos that Kairi had left in her wake. He wondered if her parents knew the state it was in.

**Rating:** K

**Genre:** General/Romance

**Pairings:**SoKai

**World:** Destiny Islands. Post KH2, pre-KH3D.

**Prompt:** "Cake"

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**Chocolate faces and lemonade laughter**

Patches of flour covered the counter when Sora walked in, directed by Kairi's mother to the kitchen. The girl in question—faint chocolate smudge across her cheek—was frowning in concentration as she measured a cup of milk, checking and double-checking the recipe book before adding it to the bowl of flour and egg.

"Hey." Sora greeted her, sliding onto one of the stools at the counter. She gave a slight jump, barely avoiding sloshing more milk onto the counter in her surprise. He leaned back to avoid the droplets that sprayed forward, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Oh, hi." Kairi replied breathlessly, closing the milk carton and setting it down. "I thought you were at Riku's today."

Sora cast his eye around the kitchen, noting the chaos that Kairi had left in her wake. He wondered if her parents knew the state it was in. "Yeah I went over this morning, but he's in one of his moods. He had a fight with his dad and everything was just awkward after that." He shrugged. "What're you making?"

Kairi pursed her lips at the mention of Riku's father—neither she nor Sora liked the man very much, but he was their friend's father, so they offered him their grudging respect. "Chocolate cake." She indicated the bowl of chocolate melting over a saucepan of water on the stove.

Sora held up his hands. "Don't let me distract you." Kairi turned to the stove and started stirring the chocolate gently, testing to see if it was ready. Sora watched her in fascination; she often cooked for him and Riku on the island, but that was generally over a campfire with simple tools. He rarely saw her working in a kitchen. "What's the occasion?"

She shrugged, gingerly adding the chocolate to the bowl with her other ingredients. "No reason. Just bored, I guess."

Sora laughed. "You're bored, so you make a cake?"

She grinned at him as she stirred, adorable with her hair pulled roughly out of her face and chocolate smudged across her cheek. Sora admired the way the sunlight from the window hit the side of her face, making her hair glow almost pink. "If you stick around long enough for it to cool you can have some."

"Deal."

They lapsed into silence as Kairi finished mixing her batter. Sora could hear Kairi's mother shuffling around on the back porch, most likely tending her garden; it was a peaceful Saturday afternoon—something that Sora no longer took for granted after his year-and-a-half-long absence.

When the cake was in the oven, they laughed as they used their fingers to clean the smaller bowl of melted chocolate; Sora teased Kairi for the smudge on her face—she gave him a matching stripe across his cheek, sticking her tongue out at him.

"You two look like you're having fun."

Sora straightened like an electric current had passed through him. Kairi's mother was standing in the door, faint amusement in her smile. Her sharp eyes noted the state of the kitchen, sweeping over the two fifteen year olds and the mess in one motion. "Make sure you clean this up, Missy." She told Kairi sternly.

"Yes, Mama."

"Good girl." Her mother smiled. "Your dad wants me to meet him for dinner in an hour, so I'm headed out. Will you be okay to eat?"

Kairi smiled. "Yeah, I'll make something."

"Alright. I'll see you later, Sora."

Sora gave a small wave. "Bye." He relaxed as the older woman left the room. "Your Mom scared the crap out of me."

Kairi giggled, reaching over to put the milk away. "I noticed." She busied herself with washing out the bowls and saucepan—Sora took it upon himself to wipe down the counter, despite her protests. "Don't do that."

"I got it." Sora pushed her hands away when she tried to take the cloth from him. "Don't worry, it's not gonna kill me."

The kitchen tidied in record time between them, Kairi poured them each a glass of lemonade and suggested they relocate to the back porch. "It's getting hot in here." She complained.

It was cooler outside. The late afternoon sun cast long shadows across the grass; Sora could hear the tide slapping against the beach not far off. Out of the three of them, Kairi lived the closest to the ocean. He took a deep breath of the fresh air. The salty smell of the ocean mingled with the sweet scent of the cake baking inside.

They sat on the back steps, sipping their lemonade and talking about nothing in particular. It wasn't the first time they'd had such an afternoon, but their parents, frightened of their children disappearing without warning again, kept as tight a leash on them as possible. "I'm gonna miss home." Sora sighed.

Kairi glanced at him sidelong. "So you're going, then?"

He scuffed his shoes on the dirt path at the base of the stairs, setting his glass aside. "Yeah. I've gotta. I mean, King Mickey wouldn't have asked me and Riku to come if it wasn't important, right?"

She sighed, folding her hands in her lap. "And what're you gonna tell your parents? I mean, Riku's dad probably wont mind him taking off for a few weeks, but your mother nearly went crazy last time." She spoke in a low voice, her eyes on her knees. "She used to come over all the time and beg me to tell her where you were, even after I kept telling her I didn't know. She never believed me."

He looked out toward the play island—the very top of the cliff was visible from their position. "The truth, I guess." He shrugged.

"She's never gonna let you go."

He kicked a rock; it skidded down the path. "She doesn't really have a choice. It's not like she can lock me in my room or anything. I've got a key that opens any lock."

Kairi's chuckle was forced. "That's true." She sighed. "I wish I could come."

Sora nudged her shoulder. "It's only for a couple of days." He promised. "We'll be back before you know it."

"You better be," she warned, "or I'll come after you. I have my own Keyblade, remember?"

His answering smile was bright; it drew a faint grin to her own lips. "I promise. And we'll actually start teaching you to use it when we get back, too."

"So I wont be 'in your way'?" She replied archly, raising an eyebrow at him.

His cheeks burned—he had to clear his throat a few times before his voice would cooperate. "C'mon," he protested weakly. "You know what I meant—it was dangerous, and you didn't have a weapon—I didn't wanna see you get hurt."

Kairi giggled, leaning over uncomfortably close. He could feel the back of her fingers brush against the side of his leg, where she'd placed them on the ground to hold herself up. "I know." She purred. He swallowed with some difficulty—she was awfully close. "But still," she leaned impossibly closer—they were almost nose-to-nose. "Don't _ever_ say that to me again."

"I won't." He nodded slightly, his voice cracking. _Smooth_.

"Good." She kissed his cheek before retreating. "Cake should be done." She announced, standing up. "Coming in?"

He blinked after her for a few seconds before he scrambled to his feet and followed her back inside.


End file.
